Google, Intel Have Just Announced A Whole Bunch Of New Chromebooks

Google and Intel are releasing a new lineup of Chromebook PCs based on Intel's brand-new low-power chip, executives from the two companies announced in a press conference in San Francisco on Tuesday.

New devices based on the new chip, called Bay Trail, are coming from Acer, Asus, Lenovo and Toshiba. The companies say that these PCs will have up to 11 hours of battery life.

There's also what Intel calls "a new class" of Chromebooks coming from Acer and Dell. These are supposed to be more powerful, and able to handle power-hungry applications like Google Hangouts with multiple parties. They cost $349. They will run three to four times faster, says Navin Shenoy Intel vice president of the PC Client Group.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is trying to steal Google's thunder. It is offering a one-day sale on an Asus Windows 8 PC today, for $199.

The companies have also announced that HP will be launching a Chromebox device in June. This is a Chrome PC without keyboard and monitor. It will be used for things like digital displays.

Plus, LG's “Chromebase” will be coming to the U.S. for $349, later this month, he said. The Chromebase is the "all-in-one" desktop PC. (Think iMac, only it's a Chromebook.)

Some of the devices will be touch. Some will be combo tablet/PCs.

The upshot is, there will be a whole bunch of new choices using Google's Chrome operating system coming this year, most of them will be available by the summer (just in time for school) and so far, they are all well under $400.

By the end of 2014, there will be 20 Chrome OS devices available on the market using Intel's chips, up from four devices last year.

Intel is also creating a "reference" PC for schools for Chromebooks. That means it is creating a design that PC manufacturers can take and use. This one has some fancy features like a camera that spins around, and this design was originally created for Windows PC makers. A company called CTL will be the first to produce it.